SCANDALS IN THE CHURCH: THE STRUGGLE; Catholic Teachings Are Among Obstacles To Resolving Crisis

It started as a terrible secret, behind the doors of a rectory, or in a dark sacristy, or in a classroom after everyone else had left: a child was sexually abused by a Roman Catholic priest.

Now satellite television trucks are parked outside St. Peter's Square covering a groundbreaking Vatican meeting in which Pope John Paul II told American cardinals and other top advisers that sexual abuse by the church's priests required ''a purification of the entire Catholic community.''

Yet with intense attention focused on whether the meeting would produce remedies to wash clean the stain on the world's most powerful church, several prelates acknowledged that purifying the church of its criminal priests would be a struggle.

Although no bishop wants to be perceived as protecting sexually abusive priests, certain fundamental church teachings are standing in the way, including the nature of the priesthood and the belief in the absolution of sin and the possibility of redemption.

Just as critical is the clerical wall of silence that church critics say has protected some priest abusers. As with the police, soldiers or any profession that grooms members to see themselves as part of a select elite, church leaders have been hesitant to turn in their errant brethren, even if they have committed serious crimes.

During a break in the sessions, several cardinals and a bishop said that they were still debating whether it was permissible to allow a priest who had been accused of sexual abuse in the past to work in ministry. This is the very problem that has stoked the scandal in the past four months, as communities learned that one bishop after another reassigned priests who had been accused of abuse.

''The question of the reassignment of priests or religious who have harmed children is still a thorny issue,'' said Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, president of the United States Catholic Conference, the national forum for American bishops.

But some of the church's critics following the meeting from the United States asked why the issue was even a matter of debate.

David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said that if the bishops really wanted to purify the church they would announce a moratorium on reassigning priests who have sexually abused children.

''They're out of touch with most of Western society,'' Mr. Clohessy said. ''It's not a thorny issue in public education, in therapeutic circles or in day care. In most occupations dealing with kids, it's a no-brainer, and fundamentally given the church's history, it ought especially to be a no-brainer. ''

Some bishops and cardinals have recently announced a zero-tolerance, policy for sexual abusers and have suggested that every American diocese should mandate this standard.

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony said his archdiocese in Los Angeles had instituted a zero-tolerance policy several years ago, likening it to what happens to doctors guilty of malpractice.

''He's a restored human being, but he's not practicing medicine any more,'' Cardinal Mahony said. With priests who abuse children, ''once that threshold has been crossed we simply cannot take a chance,'' he said.

But other bishops would like the prerogative to be able to reassign to ministry a priest who has gone through treatment and rehabilitation, and who can be closely supervised by his fellow pastors or religious community.

Cardinal Francis George said in an interview that in his archdiocese in Chicago there were some, but ''very few,'' priests still in ministry who had been judged by the archdiocesan sexual-abuse review board to be unlikely to repeat past inappropriate behavior with young people.

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

Cardinal George said that perhaps bishops should be allowed to make distinctions between serial pedophiles like John J. Geoghan, who was convicted of victimizing children in Boston, and priests who ''crossed boundaries'' with older teenagers. Cardinal George said he had still not yet made up his mind about whether zero tolerance is a good idea because, he said, it might prove to be just as unfairly punitive as mandatory sentencing for drug possession and other crimes.

''A little more wiggle room enables you to be more just,'' Cardinal George said.

In a news conference earlier, Cardinal George had said, ''There is a difference between a moral monster like Geoghan who preys upon little children, and does so in a serial fashion, and someone who perhaps under the influence of alcohol engages in an action with a 17- or 16-year-old young woman who returns his affection.

''That is still a crime in every instance, and so the civil law doesn't distinguish. In terms of culpability and in terms of the possibility for reform of one's life, they're two very different sets of circumstances.''

Sometimes there are ''mitigating circumstances'' that might lead a bishop to prefer to keep a priest in ministry, Bishop Gregory said. He suggested that one solution might be for all bishops to have review boards comprised largely of laypeople, including experts and victims, who could judge case by case.

''Perhaps one of the ways that might be best addressed is by not having the bishop make such difficult decisions alone,'' Bishop Gregory said in the news conference.

One obstacle facing the bishops is a Catholic doctrine that distinguishes the church from other Christian denominations: ordination is a sacrament, and a priest is a priest for life.

There is no mechanism for punishing an ordained man by taking away his ability to administer the sacraments, unless he wants to give it up. A priest who strays is not like a schoolteacher who can be fired, or a police officer who can be banned from the union.

A priest can be reassigned to the Siberia of an office job or even sentenced to prison by the courts, but unless he decides to cut himself off from the priesthood, he is still a priest. Even a defrocked priest is still a priest.

There are eight American cardinals in charge of archdioceses who are attending the meeting at the Vatican, as are the two bishops who lead the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Many of them have said that one goal of these meetings is to produce a set of protocols for dealing with sexual abuse that would be required for all American bishops. The measures would be taken to the American bishops to be voted on at their meeting in Dallas in June.

But today the pope read a ''discourse'' to the bishops in which he cautioned them against closing the door on priests who may repent and reform.

''You are now working to establish more reliable criteria to ensure that such mistakes are not repeated,'' the pope said. ''At the same time, even while recognizing how indispensable these criteria are, we cannot forget the power of Christian conversion, that radical decision to turn away from sin and back to God, which reaches to the depths of a person's soul and can work extraordinary change.''

As with previous dense papal documents and encyclicals that are parsed for meaning, the pope also gave support to the notion that only a zero-tolerance policy could restore credibility in the church.

''People need to know that there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young,'' he said.